Wall mounted printer with binding assembly

ABSTRACT

A wall mounted printer comprising a main chassis, a pivoting media tray disposed on a front upper portion of the main chassis, a removable collection tray disposed at the base of the main chassis for receiving printed and bound media exiting from the main chassis, a printhead unit disposed within the main chassis, and a binding assembly disposed within the main chassis downstream of a printing zone of the printhead unit, the binding assembly comprising a support chassis downstream of a printing zone of the printer, the support chassis defining a glue application and binding zone in which printed sheets of media are received in a feed direction; and an elongate glue applicator mounted on the chassis and positioned substantially at right angles to said feed direction, the applicator being displaceable towards and away from the sheets of media to apply a strip of glue to a transverse edge of each of said consecutive sheets of media.

This is a Continuation Application of Ser. No. 10/322,450 filed on Dec.19, 2002

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to printed media production and inparticular to a binding assembly for a printer.

CO-PENDING APPLICATIONS

Various methods, systems and apparatus relating to the present inventionare disclosed in the following co-pending applications filed by theapplicant or assignee of the present invention simultaneously with thepresent application: 09/575,197, 09/575,195, 09/575,159, 09/575,132,09/575,123, 09/575,148, 09/575,130, 09/575,165, 09/575,153, 09/575,118,09/575,131, 09/575,116, 09/575,144, 09/575,139, 09/575,186, 6,681,045,6,728,000, 09/575,145, 09/575,192, 09/575,181, 09/575,193, 09/575,156,09/575,183, 09/575,160, 09/575,150, 09/575,169, 6,644,642, 6,502,614,6,622,999, 6,669,385, 6,549,935, 09/575,187, 6,727,996, 6,591,884,6,439,706, 09/575,196, 09/575,198, 6,290,349, 6,428,155, 09/575,146,09/575,174, 09/575,163, 6,737,591, 09/575,154, 09/575,129, 09/575,124,09/575,188, 09/575,189, 09/575,162, 09/575,172, 09/575,170, 09/575,171,09/575,161, 6,428,133, 6,526,658, 6,315,399, 6,338,548, 6,540,319,6,328,431, 6,328,425, 09/575,127, 6,383,833, 6,464,332, 6,390,591,09/575,152, 6,328,417, 6,409,323, 6,281,912 6,604,810, 6,318,920,6,488,422, 09/575,108, 09/575,109The disclosures of these co-pending applications are incorporated hereinby cross-reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the advent of the Internet has come the opportunity for the printmedia industry to publish “on-line” rather than producing anddistributing traditional paper based publications. On-line publishinghas a number of advantages. From the consumer's point of view,information is available on demand, information can be navigated viahypertext links, information can be searched, and information can beautomatically personalized. From the publisher's point of view, thecosts of printing and physical distribution are eliminated and thepublication becomes more attractive to advertisers as it can be targetedto specific demographics and linked to product sites.

On-line publication also has disadvantages. Computer screens areinferior to paper. At the same quality as a magazine page, a SVGAcomputer screen displays only about a fifth as much information. BothCRT's (Cathode Ray Tubes) and LCD's (Liquid Crystal Displays) havebrightness and contrast problems, particularly when ambient light isstrong. Ink on paper, being reflective rather than emissive is bothbright and sharp in ambient light. Accordingly, people have a naturalpreference to read newspapers, magazines, catalogues, brochures andother publications in a bound paper based format.

Known digital printers, and in particular digital inkjet printers, donot make any provision for binding together the pages of printed media.Such an arrangement would conveniently provide for bound documentproduction in the small office/home office (SOHO) environment. Thiswould also permit some of the existing drawbacks of on-line publicationto be addressed. However, in the SOHO environment space is often at apremium. Therefore, any provision for automatically binding separatepages into a bound document must not add a significant amount of extraspace over that occupied by the printer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide means to bind pagesof printed media into bound documents suitable for use in conjunctionwith a digital printer. Accordingly, the present invention provides abinding assembly for use with a digital printer having a support framefor mounting a printhead assembly for printing on pages of media, thebinding assembly including:

-   -   a binding means mounted to the support frame wherein the binding        means is adapted to bind the pages along a line substantially        perpendicular to the direction of travel of the page with        respect to the support frame.

Preferably, the binding means includes a glue sponge strip extendingperpendicularly to the general direction of travel of the page withrespect to the support frame. In a further preferred form, retractablefingers periodically extend into the paper path for temporarily stoppingthe page to allow the glue sponge strip to apply a line of adhesive tothe page. In some embodiments of this form of the invention, theretractable fingers retract once the glue strip has applied adhesive tothe page such that the page is gravity fed to a binding area where eachpage is sequentially adhered to the previous page. It is furtherpreferred if the retractable fingers retract once the glue strip hasapplied adhesive to the page such that the page is gravity fed to abinding area where each page is sequentially adhered to the previouspage.

It will be appreciated that the binding means according to thisembodiment applies the adhesive directly prior to pressing the adhesiveagainst the previous page. This is more effective than applying adhesiveto the rear of each page and sequentially pressing each page to thesubsequent page because any interruption in the printing process such asreplenishing the paper supply may allow the adhesive applied to the lastadhered page to deteriorate and become less effective.

In another preferred form, the glue sponge strip is adapted to receiveadhesive from an adhesive supply by capillary action. In accordance withparticularly preferred embodiments, the glue sponge strip is retained ina chamber adapted to seal the strip in an environment acceptable formaintaining adhesive performance when the strip is not in use. In theseembodiments, a camshaft is provided to advance the glue strip through aclosable aperture in the chamber into engagement with the surface of apage.

In some embodiments, the binding means includes an alignment means toalign each page before it is adhered to the previous page. Preferably,the alignment means is a rotating cam positioned to engage the edge ofeach page and slide them into alignment.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, the printhead is adapted toprint the full width of the page simultaneously.

Rectangular pages of media move through the printer in a “landscape”orientation wherein the long side of the page is perpendicular to thedirection of page travel. As the pages move from a media storage area,such as the paper tray, to the binding area, the overall distance thateach page travels is reduced simply because they are in “landscape”orientation as opposed to “portrait” orientation. Consequently, aprinter that incorporates the binding assembly can have a relativelycompact design instead of an elongate design, which may be awkward toaccommodate, where space is limited. Notwithstanding the compact design,the present invention still produces documents bound along the long edgeof the page such that the document is held and read in the commonlypreferred “portrait” orientation.

The present invention also allows the production of printed material inthe traditionally appealing form of a bound document rather thanseparate pages. With the aid of modern printers and computer networktechnology, the invention has many applications in on-line publicationof newspapers, magazines, brochures and so on. The present inventionwill be described with particular reference to the netpage system. Anoverview of this system is set out below. It has been developed to allowa large number of distributed users to interact with networkedinformation via printed matter and optical sensors thereby to obtaininteractive printed matter on demand from high-speed networked colorprinters.

For this purpose, the Applicant has developed a range of netpageprinters. Of these, the wallprinter is designed to be wall mounted inthe area where the user would normally first consume the morning newssuch as in the kitchen or beside the breakfast table. In light of this,it is expected that the wallprinter will be one of the most widely usedof the netpage printers and therefore it will be described in detailbelow to illustrate one specific embodiment of the invention. However,it will be appreciated that this is merely one example of the invention,which may be embodied in many other forms.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a plan view of the wallprinter, that incorporates a bindingassembly, in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 shows a front elevation of the wallprinter;

FIG. 3 shows a left side elevation of the wallprinter;

FIG. 4 shows a ghost view front elevation of the wallprinter;

FIG. 5 shows a section view of the wallprinter;

FIG. 6 shows an enlarged section view of an upper part of thewallprinter;

FIG. 7 shows an enlarged section view of the lower part of thewallprinter;

FIG. 8 is a front three quarter view of the closed glue strip assemblyin isolation;

FIG. 9 is a front three quarter view of the open glue strip assembly inisolation;

FIG. 10 is a rear three quarter view of the open glue strip assembly inisolation;

FIG. 11 shows a section on centre of the glue strip assembly;

FIG. 12 is an end three quarter view of the open glue strip assembly inisolation; and

FIG. 13 is an end three quarter view of the closed glue strip assemblyin isolation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED AND OTHER EMBODIMENTS

Note: Memjet™ is a trade mark of Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd,Australia.

In the preferred embodiment, the invention is configured to work withthe netpage system, an overview of which follows. The system isdescribed in this specification to reduce the need for externalreference when attempting to understand the context in which thepreferred embodiments and aspects of the present invention operate.

In its preferred form, the netpage system relies on the production of,and human interaction with, netpages. These are pages of text, graphicsand images printed on ordinary paper, but which work like interactiveWeb pages. Information is encoded on each page using ink, which issubstantially invisible to the unaided human eye. The ink, however, andthereby the encoded information, can be sensed by an optically imagingpen (the netpage pen) and transmitted to the netpage system.

In the preferred form, active buttons and hyperlinks on each page can beclicked with the netpage pen to request information from the network orto signal preferences to a network server. In one embodiment, textwritten by hand on a netpage is automatically recognized via the pen,allowing forms to be filled in. In other embodiments, signaturesrecorded on a netpage are automatically verified, allowing e-commercetransactions to be securely authorized.

The netpage pen works in conjunction with a netpage printer, anInternet-connected printing appliance for home, office or mobile use.The pen is wireless and communicates securely with the netpage printervia a short-range radio link.

The netpage printer delivers, periodically or on demand, personalizednewspapers, magazines, catalogs, brochures and other publications, allprinted at high quality as interactive netpages. Unlike a personalcomputer, the netpage printer is an appliance which can be, for example,wall-mounted adjacent an area where the morning news is first consumed,such as in a user's kitchen, near a breakfast table, or at thehousehold's point of departure for the day. It also comes in tabletop,desktop, portable and miniature versions.

Netpages printed at their point of consumption combine the ease-of-useof paper with the timeliness and interactivity of an interactive medium.

The netpage system is made considerably more convenient because of thefunctional superiority of the netpage printers. At the heart of theseprinters are high-speed micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) basedinkjet (Memjet™) printheads described in various co-pending and co-filedapplications from the list above. In the preferred form of thistechnology, relatively high-speed and high-quality printing is made moreaffordable to consumers. In its preferred form, a netpage publicationhas the physical characteristics of a traditional newsmagazine, such asa set of letter-size glossy pages printed in full color on both sides,bound together for easy navigation and comfortable handling.

A netpage printer prints pages of photographic-quality images andmagazine quality text at a rate of over 30 double-sided sheets perminute (that is, more than 60 pages per minute). They come in a varietyof forms, including wall-mounted versions, tabletop versions, portableversions, and pocket versions. Given the nature of the netpage system,it is envisaged that one of the most commercially relevant forms ofnetpage printer will be the wall mounted version referred to aswallprinter. For convenience, the present invention will be described indetail with reference to this specific version shown in the accompanyingdrawings.

The vertically-mounted netpage wallprinter 600 is shown fully assembledin FIGS. 1 and 2. As best shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, it prints netpages onA4 sized media using duplexed Memjet™ print engines 602 and 603. It usesa straight paper path with the paper 604 passing through duplexed printengines 602 and 603 which print both sides of a sheet simultaneously, infull color and with full bleed. A multi-DSP raster image processor (RIP)rasterizes pages to internal memory, and a pair of custom print enginecontrollers expand, dither and print page images to the duplexedprintheads in real time.

A binding assembly, in accordance with the invention, is in the form ofan integral binding assembly 605 that applies a strip of glue along oneedge of each printed sheet, allowing it to adhere to the previous sheetwhen pressed against it. This creates a final bound document 618 whichcan range in thickness from one sheet to several hundred sheets. Thebinding assembly 605 will be considered in close detail below withparticular reference to FIGS. 7 to 13.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 7, the Wallprinter 600 consists of a mainchassis 606, which accommodates all major components and assemblies. Ithas a pivoting media tray 607 on the front upper portion, which iscovered by a front molding 608 and handle molding 609. The front molding608, handle molding 609 and lower front molding 610 can vary in color,texture and finish to make the product more appealing to consumers. Theysimply clip onto the front of the wallprinter 600.

A flexible printed circuit board (flex PCB) runs from the media tray 607to the main PCB 612. It includes four different color LEDs 613, 614, 615and 616 and a push button 617. The LEDs show through the front moldingand indicate “on” 613, “ink out” 614, “paper out” 615, and “error” 616.The push button 617 elicits printed “help” in the form of usageinstructions, printer and consumable status information, and a directoryof resources on the netpagenetwork.

Printed, bound documents 618 exit through the base of the wallprinter600 into a clear, plastic, removable collection tray 619. This isdiscussed in greater detail below with specific reference to FIG. 7.

The wallprinter 600 is powered by an internal 110V/220V power supply 620and has a metal mounting plate 621 that is secured to a wall or stablevertical surface by four screws. Plunged keyhole slot details 622 in themetal plate 621 allow for four spigots mounted on the rear of theprinter to hook onto the plate. As best shown in FIG. 6, the wallprinter600 is prevented from being lifted off by a screw 623 that locates thechassis molding 606 to the plate 621 at one position behind the mediatray 607.

Referring to FIG. 3, the side of the wallprinter 600 includes a modulebay which accommodates a network interface module 625 which allows theprinter to be connected to the netpage network and to a local computeror network. The interface module 625 can be selected and installed inthe factory or in the field to provide the interfaces required by theuser. The modules may have common connector options, such as: IEEE 1394(Firewire) connection, standard Centronics printer port connection or acombined USB2 and Ethernet connection. This allows the consumer toconnect the wallprinter 600 to a computer or use it as a networkprinter. The interface module PCB (with gold contact edge strips) plugsdirectly into the main wallprinter PCB 612 via an edge connector. Thedifferent connector configurations are accommodated in the module designby use of a tool insert. Finger recesses 653 on either side of themodule 625 allow for easy manual insertion or removal.

The main PCB 612 is attached to the rear of the chassis 606. The board612 interfaces through the chassis molding 606 to the interface module625. The PCB 612 also carries the necessary peripheral electronics tothe Memjet™ printheads. This includes a main CPU with two 32 MB DRAMs,flash memory, IEEE 1394 interface chip, six motor controllers, varioussensor connectors, interface module PCB edge connector, powermanagement, internal/external data connectors and a QA chip.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, paper 604 is placed into a hinged top tray607 and pressed down onto a sprung platen 666. The tray 607 is mountedto the chassis 606 via two hinges (not shown).

The paper 604 is positioned under edge guides before being closed and isautomatically registered to one side of the tray by action of a metalspring part. An ink cartridge 627 connects into an ink connector moldingvia a series of self-sealing connectors. The connectors transmit ink,air and glue to their separate locations. The ink connector moldingcontains a sensor, which detects a QA chip on the ink cartridge andverifies identification prior to printing. When the front hatch issensed closed, a release mechanism allows the sprung platen 666 to pushthe paper 604 against a motorized media pick-up roller assembly 626.

FIG. 6 shows a section through the replaceable ink cartridge 627. It hasbladders or chambers for storing fixative 644, and cyan 631, magenta632, yellow 633, black 634 and infrared 635 inks. As shown in FIG. 4,the cartridge 627 also contains a micro air filter 636 and an adhesivebladder 630 in a base molding. The micro air filter 636 interfaces withan air pump 638 inside the printer via a hose. This provides filteredair to the printheads to prevent ingress of micro particles into theMemjet™ printheads which may clog the nozzles. By incorporating the airfilter 636 within the cartridge 627, the operational life of the filteris effectively linked to the life of the cartridge. This ensures thatthe filter is replaced together with the cartridge rather than relyingon the user to clean or replace the filter at the required intervals.

The cartridge 627 has a thin wall casing 640. The ink bladders 631 to635 and fixitive bladder 644 are suspended within the casing by a pin645 which hooks the cartridge together. This is a fully recyclableproduct with a capacity for printing and gluing 3000 pages (1500sheets).

The motorized media pick-up roller assembly 626 pushes the top sheetdirectly from the media tray 607 past a paper sensor (not shown) on thefirst print engine 602 into the duplexed Memjet™ printhead assembly. TwoMemjet™ print engines 602 and 603 are mounted in a directly opposingconfiguration along the straight paper path. The paper 604 is drawn intothe first print engine 602 by the powered pick-up rollers 626 where theposition and size of the paper 604 is sensed and full bleed printingcommences.

Fixative is printed simultaneously to aid drying in the shortestpossible time.

The Memjet™ print engines 602 and 603 include a rotary capping, blottingand platen device. The capping device seals the Memjet™ printheads whennot in use. It uncaps and rotates to produce an integral blotter, whichis used for absorbing ink fired from the printheads during routineprinter startup maintenance. It simultaneously moves an internal cappingdevice inside the Memjet™ printhead that allows air to flow into theprotective nozzle shield area. The third rotation of the device moves aplaten surface into place, which supports one side of the sheet 604during printing.

As shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, the paper 604 passes from the duplexedprint engines 602 and 603, into the binder assembly 605. As the sheet604 passes through the glue strip assembly 673, a retractable stop 706periodically extends into the paper path for temporarily stopping thepage to allow the glue sponge strip to apply a line of adhesive to onehorizontal edge on the front side (apart from the first sheet of adocument). The retractable stop 706 retracts once the glue strip hasapplied adhesive to the page such that the page is gravity fed to abinding area where each page is sequentially adhered to the previouspage.

FIGS. 8 to 13 show the glue strip assembly in detail. It has a moldedglue strip housing 683, a sponge glue strip 681 on the front and a gluehose 641 that runs the length of the molding 683 and exits from oneside. The glue hose 641 has a series of holes along its length toprovide glue to the glue strip 681. When not in use, the glue striphousing 683 is covered by identical upper and lower lids 679 and 680respectively. The lids are pivoted in hinge blocks 684 attached to themetal support beam 674. Springs 685 close the lids together to form aseal around the sponge glue strip 681 to prevent any significantdeterioration of the glue when the glue strip assembly 673 is not inuse.

When the camshaft 642 is activated, the glue strip housing 683 is pushedforward. A wedge feature 682 on the side of the housing 683 forces thelids 679 and 680 open to allow the glue strip 681 to contact the printedpage (not shown). As shown in FIG. 10, metal strip return springs 672joining the glue strip housing 683 and the support beam 674. The returnsprings 672 return the housing 683 to the inoperative position as thelids 679 and 680 automatically enclose the glue strip 681.

It will be appreciated that this arrangement allows the media tray,binding station and collection station can be arranged in “landscape”orientation (short sides parallel to paper movement) to shorten thelength of the printer. This provides a relatively compact design thatcan more easily fit into environments having limited space.

The “landscape” binder assembly 605 is best shown in FIG. 7. It has ametal support chassis 686, a sprung molded binding platen 687 that runson four traverser rods, a molded angled platen which supports thedocument 618 after the sheet 604 has been moved across, and an exithatch 690. The printed page 604 is fed in until it rests on the exithatch 690. The binding platen is propelled forward at high speed via alooped system of wheels and a sprung steel cable 693 that attaches to apowered cable winder shaft 694. As the cable winder shaft 694 isrotated, the cable loop 693 shortens and transports the binding platenforward. This powered shaft 694 has a slip clutch mechanism and providesthe necessary speed to push the sheet 604 forward onto the rear of aprevious sheet, glue/bind it then return under the action of returnsprings to the home position to accept the next printed sheet. A singleoperating cycle of the reciprocating platen takes less than 2 seconds.

The cable 693 is sprung to allow for positive pressure to be applied tothe previous sheet to aid binding. Furthermore, the angled platen isshallower at the top than at the base in order to support the document618 in an over axis configuration.

A paper tapper 643 knocks the sheet 604 to one side of the binderassembly 605 as it is transported across to the angled platen. The mainPCB 612 controls motors for the cable winder shaft 694, the tapper 643and the exit hatch 690.

When a document 618 is bound and finished, the powered exit hatch 690,which includes a tamper sensor, opens. The tapper 643 also tap alignsthe printed document 618 during ejection out of the binder assembly 605into the collection tray 619. Plastic foils 698 on the lower frontmolding 610 work together with the hatch 690 to direct the finisheddocument 618 to the back of the collection tray 619 and feed any furtherdocuments into the tray without hitting existing ones. The collectiontray 619 is molded in clear plastic and pulls out of its socket under acertain loading. Access for removing documents is provided on threesides.

The invention has been described herein with reference to the specificexamples only. Skilled workers in this field will readily recognise manyvariations and modifications, which do not depart from the spirit andscope of the broad inventive concept.

1. A wall mounted printer comprising a main chassis, a pivoting mediatray disposed on a front upper portion of the main chassis, a removablecollection tray disposed at the base of the main chassis for receivingprinted and bound media exiting from the main chassis, a printhead unitdisposed within the main chassis, and a binding assembly disposed withinthe main chassis downstream of a printing zone of the printhead unit,the binding assembly comprising a support chassis downstream of aprinting zone of the printer, the support chassis defining a glueapplication and binding zone in which printed sheets of media arereceived in a feed direction; and an elongate glue applicator mounted onthe chassis and positioned substantially at right angles to said feeddirection, the applicator being displaceable towards and away from thesheets of media to apply a strip of glue to a transverse edge of each ofsaid consecutive sheets of media.
 2. A wall mounted printer as claimedin claim 1, which includes a stopping mechanism that is mounted on thesupport chassis, the stopping mechanism being configured to stopconsecutive sheets of media in the glue application and binding zone fora predetermined period of time, to permit the glue applicator to applythe strip of glue to said transverse edge of said each consecutive sheetof media during said predetermined time.
 3. A wall mounted printer asclaimed in claim 1, in which the glue applicator includes an elongatehousing with an application sponge positioned in the housing and a gluesupply, the application sponge being in fluid contact with the gluesupply so that glue is drawn into the sponge with a capillary action andthe application sponge being positioned so that, when the glueapplicator moves towards the sheets of media, the application spongemakes contact with the sheets of media to apply the glue to the sheetsof media.
 4. A wall mounted printer as claimed in claim 1, whichincludes a binding platen assembly mounted to the support chassis, thebinding platen assembly being positioned downstream of the glueapplicator to receive each sheet of media once the strip of glue hasbeen applied to each sheet and to urge the sheets together so that theglue can act to bind the sheets.
 5. A wall mounted printer as claimed inclaim 4, in which the binding platen assembly includes a reciprocatingplaten and a support platen, the reciprocating platen being interposedbetween the glue applicator and the support platen and beingreciprocally displaceable towards and away from the support platen toreceive consecutive sheets of media with the glue applied to the sheetsand to transfer the sheets on to the support platen such that thereciprocating platen serves to urge the sheets together.